T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Cuts Stake in ESCO Technologies Inc. $ESE

Key Points

• T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. sold 126,197 shares of ESCO Technologies, reducing its stake by 15.9%, and now owns approximately 2.58% of the company.
• ESCO Technologies has recently faced mixed analyst ratings, with Benchmark increasing its target price from $190.00 to $200.00, while Wall Street Zen downgraded its rating from "buy" to "hold."
• The company reported $1.60 EPS for the last quarter, missing expectations, and it has set its FY 2025 guidance between 5.750-5.900 EPS.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE - Free Report) by 15.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 666,535 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 126,197 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned 2.58% of ESCO Technologies worth $106,060,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ESE. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of ESCO Technologies in the 1st quarter worth about $90,067,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of ESCO Technologies by 152.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 380,104 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $50,634,000 after purchasing an additional 229,601 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in ESCO Technologies in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,882,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in ESCO Technologies by 18,682.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 107,247 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $17,065,000 after acquiring an additional 106,676 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in ESCO Technologies by 2.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,973,925 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $473,211,000 after purchasing an additional 66,392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ESE. Benchmark boosted their price objective on ESCO Technologies from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ESCO Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $187.50.

ESCO Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESE traded up $2.15 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $196.91. 34,470 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 166,332. ESCO Technologies Inc. has a 12 month low of $113.30 and a 12 month high of $201.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.37 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $191.38 and a 200-day moving average of $174.24.

ESCO Technologies (NYSE:ESE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.05). ESCO Technologies had a return on equity of 11.19% and a net margin of 10.37%.The business had revenue of $296.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $320.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.16 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. ESCO Technologies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.750-5.900 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 2.040-2.190 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that ESCO Technologies Inc. will post 5.65 EPS for the current year.

ESCO Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 2nd. ESCO Technologies's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.21%.

ESCO Technologies Company Profile

ESCO Technologies Inc produces and supplies engineered products and systems for industrial and commercial markets worldwide. It operates through three segments: Aerospace & Defense, Utility Solutions Group, and RF Test & Measurement. The Aerospace & Defense segment designs and manufactures filtration products, including hydraulic filter elements and fluid control devices used in commercial aerospace applications; filter mechanisms used in micro-propulsion devices for satellites; and custom designed filters for manned aircraft and submarines.